


Eleven - Darillium

by GrumpyJenn



Series: River and the Doctors [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn





	Eleven - Darillium

_Not now, please not now! No! Please my River, not yet, please...._

The Doctor sat bolt upright as he woke.

River’s sonic was ready.

He slipped out of bed and to the console room, resting his hands against the console. _Must I? Does it have to be now?_ He pleaded with the TARDIS; he knew she would know better than he what Time was right.

If any time was right. He didn’t think it was.

 _(grieving now)_ said the TARDIS in his mind. The Doctor slumped into the jump seat, defeated. He sat there for a very long time.

And then he got up and went to the wardrobe room. He had some setting up to do.

River looked up as she slipped her feet into the high heels that went with the metallic green dress, and she bounded over to the Doctor as he entered the room and flung her arms around him. “Oh thank you, my love, what a lovely surprise,” she said against his cheek, and he forced a smile.

“Shall we?” he said, and offered her his arm. She took it and they left the TARDIS. They went to the Planet of the Ice Cream Shops to share a sundae, and to Calderon Beta in September of 2360 to watch the lights come on in the sky. And then at last they headed back to the TARDIS to go to Darillium.

That was when they ran into a little snag. Wrong TARDIS. All _you nostalgic idiot_ and _the bulb needs changing_ and witty banter and _the mind races_ and _he’s been promising for ages_. And when River and her proper Doctor left the younger Doctor, she vaguely recalled having been on the other end of that conversation. Her first night in Stormcage, wasn’t it? She thought it was.

The Doctor seemed even more subdued than he had of late.

But he handed her gallantly out of the TARDIS at Darillium, then took her by the shoulders to turn her gently so she could look at the Towers. They... _soared_. Yes, that was the word that came to mind. They soared like... like... River had no idea what they soared like, but soar they did, and she felt a tear splash against her scalp through her hair.

“What is it, my love?” she asked, and turned to press her lips against his. She felt, rather than heard, as he made the shape of _that damned word_ against her mouth, and her hearts sank. But then he pulled away and looked closely at her face.

“So beautiful, my River,” the Doctor said hoarsely, and swallowed hard. It broke River’s hearts to see him like this, his young face looking so _old_ in his distress, tears in his eyes. “River, I...” He trailed off and cradled her face between his hands, speaking slowly, almost hesitantly, as though afraid she would laugh at him. “River. I don’t say it often - hardly ever in fact - but I want you t-- I _need_ you to know... I... love you.”

River felt her eyes fill with tears, and she took a breath to speak, but he leaned in and brushed his lips across her mouth, silencing her. “ _River_ ,” he said, and his voice was urgent now, “I need you to remember - _no matter what_ \- that you are loved... always and completely loved. River, promise me that you’ll remember. _Promise_.” She couldn’t speak, but she nodded, and took his hands in hers, drawing him down to kneel on the springy clover-like ground cover just outside the TARDIS doors.

There she kissed him, facing him and holding his hands in hers. “I love you, Doctor. _My_ Doctor.”

“River Song, Melody Pond. The woman who married me,” the Doctor said softly as a low thrum started from the base of the Tower nearest them. “Would... will you marry me again? Here, now, while the Towers sing?” She nodded and he sighed with relief, taking off his tie. “River, wrap this around your hand and hold it out to me.” She complied and they knelt together, hands held and tied fast. “Now...” he looked lost for a moment, and River knew he was remembering Amy and Rory, and how could they do the ceremony without her parents there, she...

 _(I consent and gladly give)_ said the voice of the TARDIS in the back of their minds, and the one miniscule part of the Doctor’s mind that was not in a state of utter despair crowed with delight at the symmetry of it all. “Now, River. I'm about to whisper something in your ear... and you have to remember it very, very carefully and tell no one what I said.”

He whispered in her ear, and her eyes widened. “I just told you my name,” he said simply.

And this time, he really had.


End file.
